Snow plow



1 March 28,1939.- P1 ROUGIIER SNOW PLOW Fild Oct. 8; 1936' I v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M h 28,1939. 7 P, ROU 2,152,092 I SNOW PLOW Filed Oct. 8, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheer 2 Patented Mar. 23, 1939 v 2,152,092

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SNOW rLow Pierre Bougier, La Com-tine, Creu'se,

France Application mm 8,.1936, Serial No. 104,687

In Austria October 8, 1934 I 3 Claims. (01. 37-44) Snowplows have already been designed in the the lower edges of the plowshares strike bumps form of two plowshares attached together in or irregularities in the road surface. -When the V-shaped arrangement, with the point to the plow comes into contact with an obstacle, in

front, and fixed to the fore-end of an automoservice, the front tends to tilt up, but this ten- 5 bile tractor. dency is compensated by the double-jointed If a snowplow is to be in accordance with the framework with which the plow is equipped.

practical requirements of road-users, it must be When the nose of the plow rises, theplowshare able to sweep of! the snow at,a sufllciently rapid assembly revolves about the front bar of the rate for such sweeping not to be excessively double frame-work; immediately afterwards, the expensive rear bar of the double frame-work revolves in In order to obtain the maximum speed from the rear hinge staples. The co-ordinated movea snowplow the latter must be so designed that ment of the double frame-work prevents the rear when the lower edges of the plowshares strike end of the plowshares from hitting the ground.

, irregularities in the road surface, the raising of In this way; no loss of speed occurs when the the plow portion should not prevent the front plowshares come in contact with an obstacle. wheels of the tractor from getting a grip of the Similarly, the arrangement which consists in ground, for a lack of proper adherence is liable locating the hinge staples right up agai st th to reduce -the speed of the snowplow'considerably side bars of the frames prevents sway from develin comparison with that which could be obtained oping in the plow and eliminates another cause on a road sufllciently smooth for the lower edges of diminished speed. of the plowshares not to meet any such irreg l- Hence, the combination of supporting cable, 1 1 1 carrying wheels and double framework enables Undoubtedly, it is always possible to prevent ,the front wheels of the tractor to be permathe lower edges of the shares hitting the irreglr- ,nently kept down to the ground, with the result larities of the road surface, by raising them sumthat the snowplow removes the greatest possible ciently high above the road, but this is naturally volume of snow at an extremely high speed. not a satisfactory solution, for the plow would Moreover, the snowplow may be attached to any leave a thicker coating of snow on the road than type of tractor without requiring any change in' the highest irregularities of surface and the road design. Besides, the assembly of the plow atwould still remain blocked to traffic. tachment to the tractor can be carried out in Another essential condition, if the snowplow a very short space of time, for it only requires is to travel at the highest possible speed, is for the adjustment of two collars and the tightening it to be held firmly in the forward line of travel of four bolts.

, of the tractor, so as not to sway from side to side. The snowplow, according to the invention, con- 'In order, therefore, for a snowplow to give satsists of two plowshares connected together so as isfaction, it must possess all the following charto form a V-shaped nose in front of the tractpr. acteristics: (1) the bottom of the plowshares It is characterized by the fact that it is fitted must be set as 0 58 88 1305311316 o t e road with two frames strutted together, the front bars 40 face? (2) 0 must be arranged lift of which are held in two hinge staples fixed to a when the lower edges of the shares meet surface cross member intended to be assembled to the 40 irregularities, without however interfering with front ends of the tractor chassis members, the the grip of the front wheels of the tractor on the hinge staples being placed in such wa t road; (3) side-sway of the plow must be elimieliminate an 81d w r th 1 y as o nated; (4) the plow must be readily attachable y ay 0 p so that and r emvab1e when the lowered edges of the plowshares strike 5 The snowplow according to the invention m1 an obstacle, the double frame-work revolves in ms all these requiremem5 Primarily, it is can the hinge staples and the whole plow attachment fled on three wheels preferably pivoted. which. tilts up without allowing the grip of the tractor result in a far smaller speed loss, than if runners from wheels to be interfered With- Moreover,

e used Moreover, as the plow is held up by as the snowplow is not subject to side-sway, it is 50 a cable, it bears as lightly as possibl on these possible to drive it forward at the maximum wheels. when one of the wheels drops into a p d of the tractor. pot-hole, the plowshares cannot strike the The attached drawings show, for instance, two ground, for the plow is held up by the cable. The methods of r constructing a snowplow according invention is, however, particularly efficient when to the invention:

Fig. 1 is a partial vertical cross-section through the middle of the snowplow.

Fig. 2 shows the plow in plan.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the snowplow attached to a tractor.

Fig. 4 shows another manner of carrying out the invention. The plowshares I .and 2, shaped like an agricultural plow mold-board, are attached together, preferably by welding. An angle iron 3 is fixed above the weld, advantageously by three bolts. A square strut 4 is bent at either end 5, so as to reinforce the plowshares I and 2. The strut 4 is bent down from 6 to I, so as to allow the tractor chassis members 8 and 9 to pass over it. Another bar I0, likewise bent at either end II, is bolted to the plowshares I and 2 underneath the strut 4. A plate I2, bent at either end I3, holds the plowshares I and 2 rigidly at the proper distance apart. Two round-bar frames I4 are assembled to the plate I2, by means of hinge staples I5, the tongues of which are bolted to the plate I2. At the other end, each of the frame I4 is assembled to the cross member. I6, by means of similar hinge staples I5. In order to avoid any side-sway of the plow, the eight hinge staples I5 are all bolted up to the side bars of the frames, one to each side bar. The whole assembly consisting of the plowshares I and 2, the plate I2 and the two frames I4 is free to oscillate vertically about the cross member l6, thereby allowing the plowshares I and 2 to be raised or lowered above the ground level. The two frames are advantageously fixed together by means of the strut II. The plate I2 is held rigid, prefer ably by means of the struts I8 bolted to the plate I2 and to the plowshares I and 2. 'Two angle iron uprights I9 are bolted at either end of the cross member I6, to carry the two pulleys 20 and 2], the shafts of which provide struts for the uprights, in addition, preferably, to the round bar struts 22. A cable 23, fitted advantageously with a chain 24 and a turnbuckle 25, passes over the pulley 20 and under the pulley 2| and is fastened to an eye bolt fixed to the correspond: ing side of the chassis member or to the tractor.

J The chain. 24 is atached to a hook in the corresponding plowshares. The turnbuckle enables the cable to be shortened and the plow to be held at the required height above the ground.

'Wheels, adjustable in height and pivoted, are located advantageously: two of them, 26 and 21, under the bar I0 and one, 28, under a strut 29, and enable the plowshares I and 2 to be raised the necessary height above the irregularities of the road surface, so as to prevent them from scraping and thus to eliminate wear.

The snowplow is fitted to the tractor by attaching the cross member by two collars to the chassis members 8 and 9. If the chassis members are not long enough, the cross member I6 may be fixed to the bumper. I

In order to use the snowplow, according to the invention, it is merely necessary to adjust the height of the plowshares above the road surface, according to the evenness of the latter, by means of the chain 24, the turnbuckle 25 and the wheels 26, 21 and 28. When the tractor to which it is attached is driven forward, the snow is thrown off to right and left without banking up, ith the result that the driver sees clearly the road he is following. Moreover, the wheels of the tractor travel on a. road surface which is practically free from snow. This is why it is possible to work at a much higher speed than if the tractor has to pass over the snow first.

In the course of tests carried out with a 13 H. P. inside drive automobile, a speed of 22 miles per! hour was attained through a 16-inch snowdr t.

In order to obtain this high speed, without any fear of snow swirls blinding the driver, the plate I2 is cut short before reaching the lower edge of the plowshares and does not reach right down to the road level. In this way, the snow is not thrown up against this plate I2 and does not whirl up in front of the drivers eyes.

The plowshares are shaped like the moldboards of an agricultural plow, the tail ends of which are turned back 6 inches inside the plow at their upper edge. Moreover the plowshares are 6 to 8 inches higher at the back than at the front, so as to prevent the snow swirling up in front of the driver and preventing him from seeing properly.

According to the form of construction sliown in Fig. 4, the plowshares I and 2 are fitted with adjustable shutters 30, pivoting on hinges 3|.

These adjustable shutters are opened in service to.the required degree according to the width of the road to be cleared and also to the thickness of the snowdrift, by means of a tie-rod or better still a rack 32, which is fastened at one end to the shutter 30 and at the other to the corresponding plowshare or to the strut 4.

The chief advantages of the snowplow accord-' ing to this invention are as follows:

Its construction is extremely simple, despite its absolute rigidity. The simplicity of its construction makes the production cost price far lower than that of the snowplows in current use.

The double jointing or hlnging of the front and rear bars of the double framework enable the plowshares to rise without interfering with the tractive grip of the drive wheels of the tractor, so that when the plowshares come into contact with an obstacle, their rear end does not hit the ground and consequently the tractor does not ride up on them. As the grip of the wheels on the road surface remains constant, there is no loss in speed. 4

The hinge staples being driven up against the side-bars of the frames, it is impossible for the frames to travel from side to side thus eliminating any tendency of the plow itself to side-sway.

This arrangement suppresses a. serious source of damage to both the snowplow and the tractor. It enables at the same time maximum speed to be got out of the tractor without any danger of damaging the snowplow:

To enable the hinge staples I5 to be accurately driven up to the side-bars, they may be provided with any convenient means of adjustment, or else be fitted with a lug bearing on the Moreover, the two frames might be re-- tached together to form a nose and adapted to be attached to the front part of a tractor comprising, a longitudinal strut secured to each plowshare on the nose of the snowplow and having the other end fixed to an upright plate, four bearings carried by'said plate, a frame having a side thereof mounted in two of said bearings, another frame mounted in the other two bearings, means connecting said frames, the opposite sides of said frames passing through four additional bearings which are mounted on a beam secured transversely to the frame of the tractor.

so that when one of the plowshares of the snow-.

plow comes in contact with an obstacle the double frame rotates in said bearings whereby the snowplow is maintained in a horizontal position.

2. A snowplow according to claim 1 characterized by arranging the bcarings'in such a manner that one end of each bearing is close to the longitudinal sides of the frames and presses against each side of the frame to prevent sidesway of the snwplow.

3. A snowplow according to claim 1 characterized by the fact that the cross-beam carries on each of its ends two angle iron uprights on which pulleys are mounted, a cable passing over said pulleys and secured at one end to the tractor, a turnbuckle fixed to the other end of said cable, means connecting the other end of said turnbuckle to the plowshares, whereby the snowplow can be held at any desired height above the ground by means of the turnbuckle.

PIERRE ROUGIER. 

